Whitley County holds informational kickoff to form MUST for new local income tax structure

Paige Sanso, a principal at Baker Tilly, told county and municipal officials at an informational meeting that MUST—short for Municipal Unit Strategic Task Force—was created by House Bill 1210 to give local units a forum to negotiate how the new local income tax (LIT) structure will apply in Whitley County.

"It stands for municipal unit strategic task force," Sanso said, noting the MUST is optional but intended to be the official negotiation body that would recommend LIT rates to the county for adoption. She said the task force's report must be delivered to the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) and that Baker Tilly will help prepare scenarios and analyses for voting members.

Sanso gave a baseline for the county’s current LIT: "Right now, today in 2026, this county has a total local income tax rate of 1.6829% and it generates about 21.5 million," and she warned that many current LIT buckets will expire at the end of 2028. Under the new framework described by presenters, the county may adopt a county services rate (up to 1.2%), a fire and EMS rate (up to 0.4%), and limited non-municipal allocations for libraries, townships and special districts (small, unit-type shares). Municipalities with populations over 3,500 may opt to adopt their own municipal services rate of up to 1.2% or join a countywide municipal rate.

Amber Neielen, a senior manager with Baker Tilly, said the new distribution method will shift some allocations from property-tax-share formulas to population-based shares, a change that could materially affect units with large daytime populations or heavy industrial tax bases but small resident populations. She told attendees that the new method "could mean people who live across the street from one another pay different LIT rates" depending on municipal opt-ins and county decisions.

Attendees pressed presenters on technical and implementation issues. A Columbia City official asked whether the Department of Revenue and DLGF can map incomes to individual addresses; presenters said the state must complete that work before implementation and cautioned that the mapping effort was incomplete (one of 92 counties reported as completed at the time). Baker Tilly also confirmed it will provide side-by-side scenario modeling for taxing units, including schools and libraries, so decision-makers can see how current shares compare with projected allocations under several options.

Presenters outlined likely next steps if Whitley County elects to convene a MUST: finalize the MUST roster (voting members include one county council member and fiscal officers for each municipality), set a meeting cadence, run priority-setting and scenario modeling sessions, negotiate allocations, and submit a report to DLGF. Sanso and Neielen proposed a biweekly meeting cadence and provided a draft timetable that calls for an initial work session in June, a first modeling meeting in early July and a second meeting in mid/late July, with finalization aimed to allow a submission before the December reporting deadline.

Baker Tilly said it will bill the county and participating municipalities on a time-and-expense basis for facilitation and modeling work and recommended splitting costs among units. The consulting team said they would provide agendas and financial materials in advance and facilitate meetings designed to keep the process moving.

No formal motions or votes were taken at the informational session. Attendees tentatively set the next meeting for July 8 at 6 p.m. and a follow-up for July 22 at 6 p.m.; presenters will send a proposed calendar, invite all taxing units to participate (voting and non-voting), and present the first set of financial scenarios at the July kickoff.